Shanghai

It's not hard to find beer in Shanghai. Craft beer is slowly becoming more available to support not only the tourists and expats, but the ever-growing demand from local enthusiasts. It's not uncommon to walk into a beer bar and find it full of local patrons.​

​ABInBev has made a huge push to become the dominant supplier of craft beer in Shanghai. At the end of 2015, they purchased Kaiba Tap Room, which has 3 locations around Shanghai. Concurrent with opening a Goose Island Brewpub in March 2016, they acquired the 2 top craft beer breweries in Shanghai - Boxing Cat and Liquid Laundry. If you are anti-ABInBev, as many craft beer lovers are, this has severely limited your craft beer options in Shanghai.

​Shanghai Brewery has 2 locations in Shanghai. I went to the Dongping Lu location on 2 different nights. For me, it was hit or miss at this brewery (mostly miss). I went back a second night to give the beer a second chance but unfortunately, the other styles didn't fare any better. Of the beers I drank, most were sub par and only one was of average flavor. Nothing stood out and the stout, for example, was far too sweet (no, it wasn't a sweet milk stout). The bar itself was nice. It was reasonably busy and the food was OK, mostly Western style. They only have 6 to 7 beers on tap. The bartenders were not all that sociable but others sitting at the bar were friendly and talkative.

I've wanted to go back and give them a third chance on one of my subsequent visits to Shanghai, but each time I've checked their website, it's the same beers listed. It seems not too much creativity or experimentation happening here. I tried one more time in late 2016 but found the Dongping Road location closed. No mention at all on their website. I had to use an app on my phone to translate the paper sign hanging in the window.

Update March 2017: It would appear that the Dongping location has permanently closed. There is no mention of this on their website as the address is still listed. They also opened up a new location which is located next to Liquid Laundry. Again, there is no mention of this on their website. I found it by searching the internet for other new beer locations in shanghai. It's still the same old beer, although there was one new one, which was below average. Food menu is a mix of Western and Chinese. With Boxing Cat and Liquid Laundry now part of ABInBev, it sure would be nice if Shanghai Brewery would step up it's game with better beer and better social media communications. The opportunity is there...

Boxing Cat has 3 locations. I went to 2 locations during my first trip and hit the third location on a following visit. The beer was so good at the first location, I had to try different selections at the second location. Each location has a few different beers besides the common beers at all locations. All locations were very busy. At the first place, the bar was full, so I had to sit at the only remaining table. It wasn't well-suited for conversing with others and the waitress didn't speak much English. But the beer and food were great! The location on Zun Yi Road is the actual brewery with a huge glass wall separating the restaurant from the brewing equipment, so you are able to get a good look at their setup. They've recently starting barrel-aging some of their creations. I think they have a little bit of work to do one this, but they have taken a huge step to getting there.

Update March 2, 2017: Liquid Laundry (owned by Boxing Cat) has been acquired by ABInBev.

Neat brewpub located on the second floor of a commercial laundry-themed location. The beer and food menus were in laundry list format. The patrons were mostly locals on a busy Saturday afternoon. The first beer I tried, Puxi Patrol Porter, was sub par, so it was 1 and done for me. 15 beers on tap, including their own and a selection of international craft beer.

A lot of things can affect one's palate, so I'm always willing to give a brewery a second chance. And as was the case with Liquid Laundry, I was glad I did. I wasn't disappointed with my second, third or fourth visits. Good list of house beers and a few great guest beers, as well.

There are multiple locations in Shanghai and I've been to all 3 of them during my various trips. The first one I went to was located on Yongkang Lu. Yongkang Road is a well-known destination place for people that want to hit the bar scene. The entire block is lined with small bars on both sides. While often visited by locals and tourists, it is a very common location for ex-pats. I went to multiple bars along the block, but the Tap House stands out for their great selection of international taps. The only downside to this area is the outdoor seating shuts down at 10 pm, even on Fridays and Saturdays, because people live above the bars and have complained about the noise.

The Taixing Lu location has a similar tap list, but not identical, to the other locations. Nice sized interior with a 2 large patios (rooftop and outside front door. Food menu is mostly bar-bites.

Update: Almost all bars on Yangkong Road have closed. This was one of the few still in operation but I don't expect them to stay open for long, so check before you go.

Papa's Bierstube​Made a full circle back to Shanghai. Papas Bierstube is within a popular night spot in an area full of bars and restaurants. The other Shanghai Brewery is located in this same area. It was nearly a 3-week trip to China, so I was pretty much beer-ed out by the time I went here. I didn't find the beer list particularly impressive. There were on 2 or 3 of their own beers, the other bottle beer was standard beer-fare available anywhere. This place is within the block-long entertainment street, Hongmei Lu, with numerous bars on both sides of the street.

Location: 3338 Hongmei RoadNearest Metro: Longxi Road, Line 10

Updated Mar '15​

Papa's Bierstube

Dr. Beer

​I hit this place on a weekday afternoon, minutes after they opened. I was the only person in there. It's quite a large bar although they only have 5 taps of their own beer which is brewed on-site. I didn't check to see if they had a bottle list. Large outdoor seating area. The bartender said they get very busy in the evening and on weekends. Located next to World of Beer. No website.